Particularly popular among cycling enthusiasts is a front wheel suspension system commonly known as the "springer mount". The springer mount utilizes a rigid, forked yoke with the wheel mounted between the ends of a pair of rocker arms pivotally connected to the distal ends of the yoke tines. Road shocks imparted to the wheel are transmitted to a spring assembly by a pair of connecting rods which are pivotally attached to the rocker arms between the axle of the wheel and the connections with the yoke.
The springer suspension system permits relative up and down motion of the wheel with respect to the yoke along an arcuate path. In prior cycles utilizing the springer suspension system it has been customary to rigidly mount a fender on the yoke sufficiently far above and behind the wheel as to provide clearance for the significant and rather unusual movement of the wheel permitted by the suspension system. For many cycles the fender has been raised from the wheel by as much as four to five inches. This gap between the wheel and the fender allows excessive amounts of debris to be thrown past the fender onto the cycle and its rider.
The raised fender presents another problem as well because of aerodynamic loads, such as buffeting, which are imposed on the exposed fender. To reduce these loads the practice has been to reduce the length of the fender thereby further reducing its effectiveness in shielding debris from the cycle and the rider.
Some prior inventors have proposed mounting the fender of a cycle in such a manner that it moves with the wheel. This is relatively easy to do with a telescoping yoke suspension system, but not so with a springer suspension system.
U.S. Pat. No. 455,673 granted July 7, 1891 to D. P. Vincent for "Bicycle" discloses a fender mounting arrangement in which the fender moves up and down with the wheel. But the arrangement can only accommodate straight line up and down movement of the wheel axle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,976,056 granted Mar. 21, 1961 to J. D. Henry for "Bicycle Suspension System" discloses another fender mounting arrangement for wheels which are mounted in rocker arms. The arrangement there disclosed produces undesirable rocking motion of the fender when the suspension system is flexed.